Review of Natsume's Book of Friends
I tried watching this anime 'cause I loved Mushishi, and a lot of people tend to compare them in terms of quality and content... But now, after I've forced myself through 5 seasons of this, I can boldly say that's the biggest stretch I've ever heard. Let me tell you why: [STORY 1/10] There isn't one, and I mean it technically. A story is composed of an initial situation, a complication, a development and a final solution, but Natsume's Book of friends never goes past the first element. Throughout the series Natsume (protagonist) found himself fighting numerous youkai, encountering exorcists of different mindsets, getting the chance toknow more about the spiritual world and her own grandmother's past, but every time that happened it would invariably be nullified at the end of the episode. By the beginning of the following one he would've already forgotten about the exorcist circles he learned to draw and use, he wouldn't use his connections to learn about his supposedly huge power and prefered going back to punching monsters instead, miserably failing every time (even though his entire personality is "I'm kind and I want to protect others"). The "power of friendship" is the only thing he ever has going for him, meaning he stays just as weak and pathetic for the whole series, waiting for Sensei and the other youkai to save him. The only reason he's not dead is the godly power of the main character.
Also, after 5 seasons I still don't know why Natsume Reiko stole the names of the Youkai (S1 ep1), what's her relationship with Sensei (S1 ep1/2) and why he was sealed (S1 ep 1/2), which is funny cause it should be the foundation of the whole plot.
I could go on and on with examples, but you get the point: twists and developments are forcefully removed from the plot in order to keep everything exactly as it is in the beginning. Natsume is overly kind and helps everyone, Sensei is funny and tsundere, everybody else loves the MC cause he's been kind to them, and that's it.
CONCLUSION: Great if you're a child, you can't follow the complexity of the average story, or you need a laxative.
[EPISODES 2/10]
Since there's no general story, I've created an "EPISODES" section to be as fair as possible with my review, although I'm not sure it's for the best. Every episode is a short story in itself, and while at the beginning it was mildly captivating (5-6/10) it rapidly grew old, repeating the same structure (random initial situation / a youkai appears / he proves to be more human and kind than you'd think / he asks Natsume for a favor and he can't refuse cause he's too kind / random teasing from Sensei / everything is solved with the magical power of "I'm the MC, stfu" / happy ending), the same settings, the same story message (be kind!1!11!), the same scene direction.
CONCLUSION: Even taken episode by episode this anime is as original as my dad's forgetful storytelling.
[CHARACTERS 3/10]
I'm not rating lower only 'cause I'm considering "5" as average and "3" as "below average", but I would easily give it a 1/10. As for the story the anime offers plain characters, completely sterothypical, easily predictable, and tragically static. Everything they do and say is stricly determined by two factors: the "How-much-do-you-love-the-MC" factor and the "one-liner-personality" factor. Now Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V that throughout 6 seasons and voilà, masterpiece complete.
CONCLUSION: Pringle's ingredients are less forgettable.
[SOUND 5/10]
I barely ever noticed there was a soundtrack playing, so I'd give it a "not good nor bad" 5.
CONCLUSION: The answer is blowing in the wind
[ART 5/10]
Maybe it was good back in 2008, but at this review's date it's forgettable both in the artistic depiction and in the animation. Nothing particular about dialogues either.
CONCLUSION: Like watching that weird old T-shirt you used to wear.
[ENJOYMENT 1/10]
There's actually no point in watching this except wasting your time: there's no profound message to be learned, no story development, no artistic value... Nothing at all.
CONCLUSION: Great if you want to experience the insubstantiality of Being.
AVERAGE RATING: 2.7
[OVERALL OPINION:] This is an anime for people who like to watch something without having to think too much about what's going on. Is it well done? Not really. Is it good within its own limits? Sure, why not. Although it's almost as far away from my tastes as possible, the fact that I was able to rush through 5 seasons should be a good testimony of how easy and chill this anime is. So, to wrap things up: definetely not a masterpiece, but great to wither away in your bed after a day of work.